11:55: President Obama and VP Biden hold an event at the White House to unveil a package of proposals to reduce gun violence

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Washington Post: President Obama on Wednesday will formally announce the most aggressive and expansive national gun-control agenda in generations as he presses Congress to mandate background checks for all firearms buyers and prohibit assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips.

…. Obama will begin this effort Wednesday in the presence of children who wrote him letters after last month’s mass shooting at a grade school in Newtown….

In addition to background checks and restrictions on military-style guns and ammunition magazines, Obama is expected to propose mental health and school safety initiatives such as more federal funding for police officers in schools….

….. the proposals amount to the most comprehensive federal regulations of the firearms industry since 1968, when President Lyndon B. Johnson acted in the aftermath of high-profile assassinations…..

BBC: The mother of a British boy shot in the Newtown school massacre has wept as she told how she learned of his death. Dylan Hockley, six, was one of 20 children and six teachers killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Connecticut, on 14 December.

Speaking to BBC News, Dylan’s mother Nicole recalled “shaking” and not being able to stop as police revealed their son was among the gunman’s victims …. Dylan’s body was found in the embrace of his classroom assistant, Anne Marie Murphy.

…. Mr Hockley urged Washington to act on a number of different areas, saying: “The unthinkable has happened. All the shootings that have come before have indeed been terrible tragedies, but now it’s sunk so low that very small children have now been the target of this.

“How could it possibly get worse? If they cannot address this now, it’s as if they think they can never address it and they will give up and this will go on.”

Michael Tomasky: The NRA’s new ad is beyond anything we’ve seen, in political propaganda terms, in the modern history of this country….

…. It’s designed to make people who despise the president despise him even more; and it’s designed to make them despise his children, 14 and 11 years old, because they live a cosseted life that you and your kids don’t; they are ergo elitist hypocrites just like their father.

It’s not even the logic, though, that’s most disturbing … Just mentioning the president’s daughters in an ad full of violent imagery and sounds – silhouettes of assault rifles, profiles of heavily armed soldiers, martial music – is an invitation to certain viewers to make certain mental connections. I’ll stop there. But it’s really a shocking thing…..

Josh Marshall (TPM): It takes a lot for the NRA to shock. But this is just beyond disgusting …. There are so many vile things about this ad. But one thing to note is the ad is really only designed to appeal to people who have a deep – really deep – animosity toward the President. The sort of people who don’t think he and his daughters should be in the White House and wish him the sort of ill citizens should never wish upon a freely elected head of state.

Mark Glaze, director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns tells TPM: “At some point the NRA’s Washington lobbyists may realize that this kind of thing is making them irrelevant. It does nothing but offend the reasonable people who make up the bulk of their country – and the bulk of their own membership.”

Economy Watch: Retail sales rose more than expected in December as Americans shrugged off the threat of higher taxes and bought automobiles and a range of other goods, suggesting momentum in consumer spending as the year ended….

Economy Watch: For nine straight months, national home prices have been in the positive, and the gains are only getting larger. The latest reading for November shows a 7.4 percent jump from a year ago, according to CoreLogic. That includes sale prices of distressed properties, bank-owned homes and short sales. This is the largest year-over-year jump since 2006 when we were at the height of the housing boom

Chicago Sun-Times: The Chicago Public Library today unveiled artist Steve Musgrave’s new portrait of President Obama to celebrate the upcoming inauguration …. the portrait reflects Obama’s efforts as a community organizer in the South Side Chicago neighborhood prior to seeking public office.

…. the portrait features images of people who have influenced the president’s life including his First Lady Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia, his mother and grandmother, Martin Luther King Jr., Frederick Douglass, Rosa Parks, Harold Washington, David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett, among others.

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President Barack Obama talks with Kathryn Ruemmler, Counsel to the President, in the Outer Oval Office, Jan 15, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

O morning sunshines!!! It’s a great getting up day again in TODville again! Chips, I haven’t told you lately how much I enjoy being able to perch on the TOD stoop. And as most stoops go, it gives us a chance for lively conversation, which just makes my day. Keep it up!

Yes, welcome again, SWB! I love your ‘full service site’ description because it’s so true. It’s great to be in a place where you can be informed, be relaxed, be friendly, disagree, etc. etc. and life goes on without you having to ‘live in fear’ all the time, like the GOPs seem to.

Sure way for a new thread – I’m chatting away on the last one – gm everyone – congrats Mariele – thank you for another great morning cookemom & thank you for all the wonderful links Chips – I love that good guy at the top & all that he does.

Good morning everyone! Congrats on first, Mariele… and welcome to de-lurking, swbluega! We need ALL Hands On Deck, as our Yardarm would say! Ms Chips… thanks so much, just caught up on all the last threads! Loved your pics and captions from the last inauguration, and learning of the newest vile NRA ad has caused my blood to boil today. I hope it “backfires” mightily on their collective asses.

The NRA is indeed a disease on the body politic—–the worst disease ever. It is so anguishing to read statements from the Sandy Hook parents, like the Hockleys, as one tries to imagine oneself in their place, and can’t fathom the horror. Noah Pozner’s mom bares her soul here, telling of her vivid dreams which haunt her and how they are trying to cope. Heart-wrenching. I am on board to help in any way possible President Obama’s effort against this destructive, horrific NRA disease.

Good round-up Chips. The disgusting ad put out by the NRA has awoken those who thought the organization had a shred of humanity within it. The NRA with their vile, disgusting PR roll outs have awoken a sleeping giant (the American people) and contributed to their fast becoming a deranged fringe group.

Probably aren’t used to the push-back they are getting. People who are used to always having their way react wrecklessly when their “directives” are not automatically followed. Then we see their true selves.

Our success in fighting for the president is going to depend on our ability to understand and talk very knowledgeably about all the measures he’s proposing. When he presents the Executive actions he can take, we need to know how this falls within the scope of other actions take by president’s in the past to counter the “dictator” argument. We need to know about other gun safety measures that were approved by Congress in the past and how that compares with proposed new gun laws in states . All the screaming about raising taxes rang hollow when compared to the taxes that were paid during the Clinton administration, so that’s the kind of comparison we have to have at hand. The truly lunatic won’t care about facts, but those with some sense will have a better understanding if we approach them calmly and with an historical perspective. I know it makes me feel more empowered if I’m really possessed of the facts. This was the kind of thing that OFA was so good at during the campaign. When Stephanie Cutter came out with her statements telling us what the lie of the day was and then presented us with the facts I felt armed for battle. Maybe we can all work together to build our own facts statements, try out our talking points. We need to be steady, articulate, and reasoned because, frankly, that’s the one thing they can’t fight–a knowledgeable, determined electorate.

Jackie, well said. It seems that over the past 4 years we have witnessed truning point after turning point for this country, some good and some bad. Today will be another of those monumental turning points. The President is going to come out with a cornucopia of suggestions to rein in gun violence. I am sure he has alrady been told some of them cannot pass. And I am sure that afterwards we will be told by the pundits and both Dems and the GOP in Congress that much of what he is proposing cannot pass. To which I say, “Bull hockey.”

I am not going to say that all the proposals can come into being right now, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be proposed or that they shouldn’t be proposed. The American people already agree with just about everything the President is going to propose and the American people will go after those who refuse to protect our children and the rest of us. Just like the health care reform wasn’t perfect but still represents a step in the right direction, any new regualtions will also be a step in the rigth direction.

Just like the health care reform should not be considered finished, any new regulations regarding firearms should not be considered as finished. You can’t turn a battleship on a dime, but you can turn it eventually, but if you don’t start to change direction in the first place it will eventually run aground. And that is what will happen to this country if we don’t start turning it now.

Japa, I think the battleship analogy is exactly what the president has in mind. Gun safety legislation won’t happen all at once, but it will start heading in the right direction and eventually turn around. We have to start now–no matter how hard or how discouraging.

Good Morning TODville…Good Morning.Ms Chipsss…
What an Awwwwsome Rise and Shine….simply Awwwsome!
Why are we still shocked and amazed at the vile disrespect that is heaped on our President…disrespect that comes from all over in varying degrees….the this vile TV AD …that puts the First Family in danger….to the WHPC with their tone and how they address the President to the PL who have heaped their own brand of disrespect…he is weak…he is not liberal enough….he does not stand up….and the latest…no diversity…
add another point….
The TIME cover is disingenuous…the President should be on that cover….it is HIS action…. it is HIS leadership that has started this bevy of activity…that has caused others to speak out
There was NO movement after …the mass shootings in Arizona…there was NO movement after the mass shootings in Colorado…
but THIS time the President said ENOOUGH!!!!!!….and set out to make a difference…giving VOICE AND INSPIRATION to the others…would anything have happened if PBO had not stepped up to the plate…WELL IT HADN’T!….
So leaving PBO off the front cover is another slap n the face to this President…they continually try to minimize and undermine the impact of PBO….

Great comment, pretty foot! I agree with everything you said. For example, as much as I like and respect VP Biden, he is not the one who initiated the action to deal with guns. He was charged by the President to take action. The media in this country encourage the disrespect of President Obama. They’ve also been relentless in ignoring or minimizing his accomplishments.

The NRA’s Inner Circle—-those who serve on the board, like Tom Selleck, Oliver North, Ted Nugent, Karl Malone and Patricia Clark, who lives a couple miles away from Sandy Hook school, who instructs gun classes for kids because “youngsters are the future of the NRA”.

Wow, dotser, what a collection of losers. Shame on Tom Selleck. How could anyone on a board with Nugent and Norquist and be able to look himself in the mirror. I thought he was better than this. My mistake.

MR. ROY INNIS
Current Board member. Nominated by NRA Nominating Committee. NRA Life member. Chairman, NRA Urban Affairs committee. Member, NRA Ethics Committee. National Chairman, Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). Proudly served in U.S. Army, tour of duty during Korean War. After losing two sons to urban gun violence, became an advocate for victims rights and the Second Amendment, leading to involvement in highly publicized cases: “Subway Gunman,” Bernhard Goetz and “Subway Token Booth Clerk”, James Grimes. Appointed by President Bush to serve as U.S. representative to UN Conference on Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons. Sent as a NRA representative to South Africa to speak on issue of individual civilian ownership of firearms. Lectures throughout US/foreign countries on gun issues and individual rights. Nationally recognized as a key leader of 1960’s Civil Rights movement, Innis is now a most eloquent spokesman for the NRA and Second Amendment freedoms.

Roy Innis? The man is still alive? Civil rights leader my ass. He’s just a sell out. The lady Patricia somebody has to be run out of Newtown. Get some lanterns and go run her out of town. As for the other blacks in the group, how can they stand being used like that?

Global, for all their purported cash and high powered support they have a lousy PR department. If you’re determined to make people angry at a target, you don’t do something so vile that you yourself become the object of anger. This is elementary PR and and the fact that NRA let their staff cross every line of decency shows a panicky and very unsophisticated hand at the wheel. The NRA never dreamed that PBO would be so strong–maybe they bought the Fox koolaid like Romney did–and they’re floundering.

I have to comment on the NRA ad.. I watched it last night on your other thread Chips.. because I think what I tell you will astonish you on how embedded that NRA thinking is: On Christmas day I went over to my eldest son’s & his fiancee’s home- I met her family, two uncles and an aunt from northern PA. I’ve only just moved here as many know to Maryland.. and thus have just met my son’s ‘other family’. The uncles were discussing POTUS’s daughter’s school & how they have armed guards, secret service… just like this NRA ad. Whats more the uncles were advocatating that all schools should have armed guards- just like the NRA ad.. whats more- both uncles, my son’s fiance and the aunt- ALL are Teachers in private schools in PA. I was blown away by their suggestions echoing the NRA that day. But sadly far more blown away by my son marrying into this family. Anyhoo, I find it very frightening and interesting that this NRA ad completely echoes what this family was pushing.. and makes me think that the NRA was putting out this line of thinking via email, etc to their followers even before they put that sick ad out last night.

oh yes they are – evil, greedy & hateful. What is more frightening is talking to supposedly educated, successful people pushing this sh*t. I WISH I had been thinking clearer that day- as I would have asked the uncles if their students got 400+ death threats each day- as does POTUS and most likely his family- as to WHY they have armed guards around them. I have to say as much as this all disturbs me- the NRA, the gun violence.. I am seriously concerned about my son’s choices at this point.. sorry to bring the personal here, but I cannot fanthom him right now. 😦

Thanks for bringing the personal here. That’s how we learn what’s going on out there. They received the memo by e-mail and brought it up. As for the President’s daughters being protected by Secret Service, I thank God for that everyday. And I am glad they are protected at school. If not they’d have to be home schooled. Pray for your son, that’s all you can do. Step aside and watch and who knows maybe his fiancee will break away and become a Democrat. It can happen.

thank you Miss Pat, I appreciate your wise comment very much. I too am grateful that our first daughters are well protected, thank heaven for that. As long as my son continues to vote as a dem (he assures me of this) I’m satisfied. Hopefully that will continue at least.

This must have been a depressing encounter for you, Sheri, and you’re probably right that they were fed this vile idea by e-mail. But it’s one thing to speak to your own circle of converted and it’s another to go out with an ad. An ad that goes way over the mark risks setting a lot of people–who might have been neutral–against you. I think that’s what’s happening–a sense of revulsion, that the NRA has taken a step too far– and it’s turning people’s stomachs.

[….] But, you know what? What have I been telling you for years now? The Republicans’ strength in unity becomes a weakness when it comes time to get flexible. If I know that you will never fold a pair of jacks, eventually I will own all your money. It’s really that simple. The GOP telegraphs their positions, digs in, and never suspects the flanking maneuver. That’s on defense. On offense, they walk straight forward without ever sending out forward observers to look out for ambushes. If you know exactly what they will or won’t do (at least on a few crucial issues) you can set them up months or even years in advance. And they are so propelled by the momentum of their ideology, that it’s almost not fair to mow them down. Almost.

Valerie Jarrett, White House senior adviser (2009-present): We’re sitting in the Oval Office, and the president asked [the legislative director] Phil Schiliro — who always could figure out what’s that third way — “Phil, what’s the third way?” Phil said, “Mr. President, unless you’re feeling lucky, I don’t know what the third way is.” And so the president gets up from his chair and he walks over and he looks out the window, and he says, “Phil, where are you?” Phil says, “I’m in the Oval Office.” He goes, “What’s my name?” Phil says, “President Obama.” He goes, “Of course I’m feeling lucky.”

he president spends election night in Chicago.
Pfeiffer: We would get these very detailed data reports that come in every couple of hours, and the very first one showed in some states a very jacked-up Republican turnout relative to what we thought it would be, and youth and African-American and Latino turnout down from where we had thought it would be. It was a holy-crap moment.

Jarrett: He was watching it on television, and so I think MSNBC was one of the first [to call the race], and so everyone was very excited. He said, “Well, let’s wait and see when Fox calls it.” And just moments later Fox called it, too, and he’s like, “All right.”

Cameron Joseph – 01/16/13 05:00 AM ET
Several of the districts the party needs to pick up are more rural and pro-gun than nation as a whole.…
-/
Therein lies the problem! It seems, Every time we try to pass a progressive bill, we lose a blue Dog in the House and Senate.

I cannot bring myself to watch the NRA ad.
I cannot tolerate the vile disrespect of our POTUS and his family 24/7.

Today will be very difficult and yet full of promise. Every one of us have to stand with PBO and do everything – everything – we can to support this agenda. NOW is the time. Make our voices known, loud and clear. Let there be no doubt whatsoever that we have had ENOUGH.

WASHINGTON — Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will step down from his cabinet position in the Obama administration and return to Colorado to spend time with his family, his office has confirmed to The Denver Post.

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But the pull of family obligations — he and his wife are primary caretakers of their 5-year-old granddaughter who has autism and is enrolled in a special school — was too great to commit to four more years, Salazar’s office said.

His days in Washington are long. Some weeks he spends 16 hours a day traveling from one far-flung location to the other — from some pristine causeway in California to the Hurricane Sandy-ravaged New Jersey coast.

{{{TODobots}}} {{{Ms Chips}}} Mariele, is that you again up there? Good for you!

Good Morning, one and all! And it is going to be a good morning, no matter what THOSE GUYS do. I’m in the village trying to educate myself with all the ‘stuff’ you guys have gathered, so do speak softly. 😉 I’m trying to get caught up BEFORE the TEAM speaks so that I can support them with my presence. Undoubtedly Wingnuttia-land will be out in full force today. 🙄 Of course, all the gun furor heading in to this Inauguration weekend has beefed up my prayer life AND makes me want to believe that the SS has greatly beefed up security around the Os and the Bs.

Wow, the portrait by Mr. Musgrave is breathtakingly beautiful and inspirational. I would love to have a reprint or poster of it for myself. Even better, I would like to visit it in the Chicago library. Such beautiful creativity and iconography surround this President. ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

[…..] Why would President Obama and his team be encouraged by a right-wing senator who badly bungled his own immigration push last summer? Because as Adam Serwer explained, Rubio is basically copying and pasting from the immigration-reform plan Obama presented nearly two years ago.

Good morning everyone. Hope it is a great day.
Deeply disappointed by the NRA and gun supporters. They can’t see past the gun site to a bigger picture. The ad was disturbing. Perhaps the children are overly protected but their lives are also severely limited by the role of their father. Every move they make is under constant surveillance. Most teenagers don’t live like that and perks will never compensate for loss of privacy. We always hear Michelle talk about trying to make their lives as normal as possible. It must be difficult especially when you have ignorant folk making ignorant comments. I am saddened by the down turn in civil discourse. It is not a reassurring message to send out to the world but PBO still shines as a beacon of light amidst all the dark thoughts.

president obama receives more death threats per day than any president in history…somewhere around 400, so there’s no “perhaps his kids are overly protected” at all. i say increase their protection substantially now that these the n.r.a. nutcases are actively promoting violence against the first family and democrats in general. this is the president of the united states for cryin out loud (notice how the ad says “mr. obama”), and how a major group can actively promote this stuff without any legal repercussions is amazing to me.

remember the hue and cry when moveon.org did a newspaper ad saying “general betrayus?!?” basically just calling him a name? let’s see how “the news” responds to this call to violence against the president and his family. not holding my breath….

An NRA spokesperson later told reporters this morning, “Whoever thinks the ad is about President Obama’s daughters are missing the point completely.” Of course, it was the NRA that released an ad about President Obama’s daughters.

Good morning TOD. I pray for the President and his administration everyday. But, today I felt the need to pray even more deeply
for this man, considering the level of hate and ignorance that will spew from the right wing lunatic fringe after his announcement.
Dear God, I pray for the safety of our President, Vice President and their families. Please continue to give the President the physical,
mental and emotional strength that is required to execute this most difficult job that you have chosen him for. Amen.

Over at The Daily Beast, Michael Tomasky noticed even Newt Gingrich making sense: “Everybody’s now talking about, ‘Oh, here comes the debt ceiling.’ I think that’s, frankly, a dead loser…The whole national financial system is going to come into Washington and on television and say: ‘Oh my God, this will be a gigantic heart attack; the entire economy of the world will collapse. You guys will be held responsible.’ And they’ll cave.”

Even conservative thinkers at the National Review have grasped what Obama appears to have understood all along: that “the prospect of default…is not a source of Republican leverage in the debt-ceiling fight; it is the primary source of the Democrats’ leverage.”

Then why have so many liberals been running scared? Watching ordinarily astute observers like New York Times columnist Paul Krugman calling for Obama to resolve the impasse by ordering the Treasury Department to mint a trillion-dollar platinum coin and deposit it with the Federal Reserve has been little short of astonishing.

Perhaps because I rarely visit Washington, I’m persuaded that the budgetary hostage crisis currently obsessing the nation’s capital holds little fascination for the general public. Wasn’t that what last month’s “fiscal cliff” deal was all about? Government by televised melodrama appears to be losing its ability to hold the nation in thrall.

To start with, there have been too many of the damn things. Promoted for ratings-building purposes by cable news networks, by politicians eager to garner TV face time, and by Pundit-Americans to enhance our own self-importance, these theatrical showdowns have succeeded mainly in undermining respect for democratic institutions.

Too bad, because if President Obama keeps playing his cards right amid Republican bluffing and liberal panic, the outcome of the upcoming debt-ceiling showdown could end up restoring that respect, if only in the sense of reminding everybody of something he said in 2009: elections do, indeed, have consequences.

This must have been the source of Joy Reid’s comment last night about the Pozner mom speaking out about what happened to her son, wanting the public/lawmakers to realize the true horror of the massacre, to get beyond the teddy bear memorials etc.—–that he was butchered by that military style assault weapon, shot 11 times.

The expulsion of Palestinian residents from an army live-fire zone in the West Bank would enable the Palestinians to address the International Criminal Court. That is the legal opinion attached to a revised petition being submitted Wednesday to the High Court of Justice against the eviction.

The petition relates to some 30,000 dunams in the South Hebron Hills that were declared a live-fire zone in the early 1980s. In 1999, the Israel Defense Forces ordered Palestinians living in the area to leave, and evicted some by force. But in response to two earlier petitions, the High Court issued an interim injunction allowing them to return.

Legal proceedings languished for the next decade, but in July 2012, Defense Minister Ehud Barak finally submitted his ministry’s opinion to the court. It argued that residents of eight of the 12 villages located in the live-fire zone should be evicted, because that portion of the zone is crucial for IDF exercises. It also argued that the villagers aren’t actually permanent residents of the zone, so there is no barrier to evicting them.

The court then suggested that the petitioners submit a revised petition, which is being submitted Wednesday, via the Association for Civil Rights in Israel. That petition includes a legal opinion by Prof. Eyal Benvenisti, Yuval Shany and David Kremcher, who argue that the Geneva Conventions’ prohibition on the forcible transfer of protected populations from occupied territory has become customary law, meaning it binds even countries that aren’t signatories to the conventions. As such, it supersedes the military commander’s orders.

Isn’t it fair to ask with regard to gun violence Who is doing what and why are they doing it?

The NRA is 100% about protecting profits of weapons manufaturers. They will use the 2nd amendment, the President’s daughters and anything else they can think of in service to their goals. They have no worthwhile point to make. None.

POTUS is about protecting his people. He will do whatever he can with the legislative branch (Congress) and using his executive powers to eliminate gun violence in our country. His cause is entirely just. We will be with him every step of the way.

The MSM/GOP is funded by weapons makers. We probably should not believe much or any of what they say.

Andrew Cuomo is a hero. On the other hand…..
Mike Bloomberg is using gun violence as his latest ploy to get camera time. Hope this goes better than whe he declared he was the so-called education mayor—-you know the genius who said On Tape that 50 children in a classroom can learn just as well as 25. The only people who should listen to MB are those on his payroll.

Robert Gibbs said the OFA list may be used to encourage passage of gun safety laws. Good!

When spread across the folks who lost their homes or faced other dire circumstances as a result of the banks misdeeds, this is a mere pittance in compensation. It gets them off the hook because if the homeowner signs for the average $350-$850 they get out of this settlement, then give up any rights to sue for any other damages.